Forged in fear

What Normal Kids Do | 20

After lunch Peter snuck off to the lab and grabbed June, he brought it to his room. He had it sitting on his nightstand, just off. He decided he was just going to look out the window some more, but the more and more his fantasies of the outside world grew, the more restless and impatient he was becoming and soon enough he decided that he wanted to get a real genuine taste. It had been a while since he was last brainwashed and he felt like his memory was there at the moment, it was staying with him and he loved that.

He hopped up from his desk and went to the door, opening it and stepping outside. He went to the kitchen where he found most everyone lounging. Bucky was in the kitchen and he made his way over to him.

"Hey Peter, did you eat?" He asked swallowing a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah I ate not that long ago, I actually came to ask a question though." Peter said quiet trying not to draw much attention to himself in the room full of people.

"Sure what is it?" Bucky asked placing his sandwich on its plate as he picked out a crumb of bread from a crack in his metal hand.

"Well, I was wondering if we could go outside?" Peter said quietly with hope filled eyes.

"I don't see why not, but I'll ask Tony." Bucky said to Peter as he went to the couch where Mr. Stark was seated talking with Clint. They talked for a minute or so before Bucky came back with both Clint and Mr. Stark.

"You wanna go play outside kiddo?" Mr. Stark asked as he placed a hand on Peter's shoulder as he nodded in excitement. "Alright, we're all gonna come with you just to make sure you're safe alright?" He asked as Peter hummed his confirmation. "Alright, everyone who wants to go outside and play with Peter?" Peter stood slightly behind Bucky in the corner, not liking that suddenly all the attention was put on him. He was worried at what people would say but they all seemed to be alright with it.

"It sounds like fun." Natasha said as she gave Peter a warm smile as he lightly smiled back.

"Awesome, lets go everyone, Sam put the sandwich down, that's your third one, we're going outside!" Same groaned as he took one more bite of his sandwich as Mr. Stark motioned for everyone to follow.

There was small chatter in the elevator as they made their way to the ground floor, Peter felt really nervous as he looked around. He hadn't been to this floor before, it looked like the main entrance. There were lots of people who he hadn't seen before all in suits and dresses seemingly working here. Peter felt anxiety course through him as he saw the eyes of a lot of those workers land on all of the Avengers, some even landing on him.

Peter nervously stepped closer to Bucky as Bucky looked down to see just how distraught he was looking, outside he looked tense and anxious but Bucky could see the real fear in his eyes. Bucky grabbed a hold of Peter's hand which made him flinch a bit but relax some. He looked over and saw a man in a white suit and a woman in a tight blue dress whispering to each other as they pointed right at Peter, but they tried to keep it to themselves. Bucky stepped a little forward so he blocked their view of Peter, he watched as they looked now to him, but Bucky gave them a glare which made them quickly avert their gaze moving on to where they were going.

Bucky felt like they were going through a mind field as Peter eventually started holding onto Bucky's arm subconsciously. Bucky felt like he had to protect him just from everyone's glance and words he couldn't even hear. He had no clue how he'd survive when Peter started school. This was his first taste of being around anyone other than the Avengers and he felt like that release was the start of a time bomb, and he couldn't shake that feeling. Their faces were finally there, in the public, and he feared that.

They reached the front door and stepped outside. Bucky could feel Peter's grip loosen a bit, and he seemed less tense. He looked down to Peter who's eyes seemingly couldn't focus on just one thing.